Better Than he Seems
by Sand-wolf579
Summary: During a talk with Savannah Cavendish realizes some things about Dakota that he had never even considered before.


**A/N: Yes, this is yet another one-shot that directly relates to the** _ **Missing Milo**_ **episode. What can I say? It was absolutely brilliant and I've already watched it three times. And the episode gave me a ton of inspiration for stories about my favorite pistachio protection time travelers, so there's that.**

* * *

Cavendish took his job extremely seriously. It was why it irked him so much that he and his partner were _still_ stuck on pistachio duty, and likely would be for a long time. As much as Cavendish hated the task that they had been given, he knew that it was their job, so he did his best to accomplish it. Of course, even Cavendish had his moments where he decided that enough was enough. So after saving the world from sentient pistachios and _still_ being treated like big jokes at work, when Dakota suggested that they should take a day off, Cavendish had agreed.

As much as they got along with each other as partners, it was exhausting to be with each other every second of every day. So whenever they got a day off (or, more often, when Dakota convinced him that they should give themselves a day off) the two of them went their separate ways. It only made sense, because both Cavendish and Dakota had different ideas of what was relaxing.

So while Dakota ran off to the zoo first thing in the morning, Cavendish allowed himself to sleep in for once. He only slept for an hour longer than he normally did, but that extra hour did wonders for him. Cavendish felt extremely refreshed when he had woken up, and his very lovely cup of tea relaxed him even more. He hadn't even _done_ anything yet that day, which was precisely what made it his ideal day off.

After he had finished his tea Cavendish decided that this would be the perfect time for him to read a book he had been interested in for quite some time, but hadn't been able to find any good opportunities to actually read it. Cavendish picked up the book and had just sat down when he heard a knocking on his door.

Cavendish waited for a moment, completely frozen in shock as he tried to figure out who on earth it could be. The only people who knocked on their doors was their landlord, who always shouted for their rent, and Dakota, who also shouted slightly whenever he forgot his keys, which happened quite frequently.

Cavendish was curious about who was at the door, but he wasn't overly concerned. He knew that Dakota thought that he was paranoid, but he wasn't _that_ paranoid. There was probably a perfectly good reason as to why somebody would be knocking on the apartment door. So Cavendish set his book down and sent to open the front door. He hadn't really been expecting anybody, but he _really_ hadn't been expecting who was there.

"Savannah?" Cavendish was taken aback at seeing his fellow time traveler. He was even more surprised to see _just_ her. Where was Brick? "What are you doing here?" Cavendish asked.

"We need to talk." Savannah said.

"Well, uh, of course." Cavendish said, because he wasn't about to refuse a fellow time traveler. "Dakota's not here at the moment. If you'd like, you could come in and-"

"He doesn't need to be part of this conversation." Savannah said. "I just need to talk to you." She took a look over Cavendish's shoulder into the apartment, which was a little messy and quite run down. "Uh, why don't we take this somewhere else?" She suggested.

Cavendish's face went red with embarrassment. "Of course." He muttered. Cavendish quickly grabbed his hat and followed Savannah out. She led him to a slightly run down but still perfectly usable car that Cavendish recognized as the backup time vehicle, which was only used in case of emergencies...he still didn't really understand why the backup time vehicle was better than his and Dakota's usual one, but he didn't say anything about it (mostly because Mr. Block had laughed at him last time he had brought it up).

"Ah, well, it's good to see that you got a replacement vehicle." Cavendish said somewhat sheepishly, because he was perfectly aware that it was partially his and Dakota's fault that their limo had been destroyed.

Savannah glared coldly at Cavendish and he wisely decided to stop talking. "Just get in the car." Savannah ordered shortly. Cavendish just did as she said. He worried for a few moments that she would travel them back in time, but that concern disappeared quickly when Savannah started the car and just started driving it as though it was a normal vehicle.

The two of them sat in awkward silence during the drive. Cavendish didn't want to say something wrong and make an even bigger fool of himself than she probably already thought that he was. Savannah on the other hand clearly had something she wanted to say to him, but for one reason or another she was choosing to save their conversation until they arrived at their destination...wherever that was.

Around fifteen or so minutes later Savannah parked the car in front of a small café that Cavendish and Dakota frequented. The café may be small and cheap, but it was of decent quality. Dakota couldn't get enough of their chocolate biscuits, and Cavendish was particularly fond of their iced tea.

Savannah got out of the car and, still without saying a word, lead the way inside. Cavendish had no choice but to follow her, unless he wanted her to just hunt him down once again, as he was sure she would.

As it was too late for the early morning rush, but still an hour or two before the lunch hour began, the café was all but empty. The two of them could order straight away. Savannah went first, and she impatiently ordered some overly complicated caffeinated drink that Cavendish still couldn't believe was an actual thing. As for Cavendish, as he had already had his morning tea he decided to just ask for two blueberry biscuits and three chocolate ones to give to Dakota later.

Once they had their orders the two of them sat at a secluded table in the corner. Cavendish began to nibble at one of his biscuits. Savannah took a single sip out of her drink before she looked at Cavendish with a serious expression.

"Alright, what's going on?" Savannah asked, getting straight to the point. Or, she probably _would_ be getting straight to the point if Cavendish even understood what she was talking about.

"What's going on with what?" Cavendish asked blankly.

"Everything!" Savannah scowled at him bitterly. "What the heck were you two doing yesterday to completely _destroy_ our vehicle? And what exactly was wrong with the future?"

"Ah, well, it's a long story." Cavendish rubbed the back of his neck. Savannah just leaned back in her chair and made herself comfortable.

"Hey, I've got all day."

So Cavendish explained _everything_. He shared how he and Dakota had finally completed their assignment and then learned of the possible unforeseen consequences. He told her about Milo Murphy and his family jynx. And he told her all about the pistacions and how they had saved the world from their rule. By the time he was finished Savannah was staring at him with wide-eyed disbelief, her drink completely forgotten.

"... _That's_ your story?" Savannah raised an eyebrow at him. "Even you have to realize how ridiculous that sounds." Cavendish sighed. He should have known that nobody would ever believe the truth. He felt so disappointed that he nearly missed Savannah's next words. "It's probably true though."

"Wait, _what?!"_ Cavendish looked at Savannah in shock. "You honestly believe me?" Cavendish had _lived_ through the events, and _he_ barely believed that it had really happened.

"Of course." Savannah scoffed. "If you were Dakota, I would probably think that you were making it up, but you don't have the imagination to come up with a story like this. Besides, if _you_ were going to make up some story to get a better assignment, I would like to think that you would come up with something more believable than pistachios taking over the world."

"Yes, I would." Cavendish huffed as he crossed his arms. He wasn't a fool.

"Besides, at least your story actually explains what happened to our time vehicle and the future." Savannah said, and her tone of voice made it perfectly clear that even though she understood the circumstances, she was still peeved that their limo had been destroyed. "It also explains why Dakota was acting so weird this morning." This last part was muttered, and Cavendish was fairly certain that she hadn't been speaking to him, but he heard her perfectly fine anyways.

"Dakota?" Cavendish's brow furrowed in concern. "What was wrong with him? And why did you see him?"

"We just ran into each other while he was headed towards the zoo." Savannah explained simply. "And relax, Cavendish, Dakota's just fine. He just seemed a little tense to me." Cavendish hadn't seen Dakota at all since the previous night, so he didn't know how tense he supposably was. After the day they had had yesterday though, Cavendish was very willing to believe that Dakota was a little tense. He was actually surprised that he hadn't noticed any change in Dakota's attitude the day before. He was even _more_ surprised though that Savannah apparently had noticed a difference.

"How would _you_ know whether Dakota was acting differently or not?" Cavendish asked somewhat suspiciously as he finished off the last of his now cold but still rather delicious biscuit. "And why would you care?" Brick and Savannah seemed to be indifferent (and that was putting it rather kindly) towards both Cavendish and Dakota. He didn't think that she knew either of them well enough to tell when something was wrong.

Savannah frowned slightly at his questions and seemed to eye him carefully, as though she was trying to determine whether he could be trusted or not. This went one for a minute before Savannah sighed and averted her eyes ever so subtly. "I can tell, and I...I _care,"_ She spat out this word like it physically pained her to say. She sighed again. "...Because Dakota's my brother."

Cavendish choked slightly on the small bit of biscuit left in his mouth. It took him a moment to recover. "Your _brother?"_ Cavendish asked roughly.

" _Half_ brother." Savannah quickly corrected herself. "Same father, different mothers."

"...Are you serious?" Cavendish asked, because he honestly couldn't believe it. Savannah's eyes flashed angrily for a moment.

"Do I _look_ like I would joke about something like this?" She asked irritably. "Of course I'm serious."

"Than why hadn't I heard anything about this?" Cavendish quickly asked, because he and Dakota were _partners_ for goodness sakes, and they regularly saw Savannah and Brick. It just felt like something that should have been brought up, or at least hinted at, before now.

"Because, believe it or not, this isn't something I really like to talk about." Savannah crossed her arms and glared out the nearby window. "And Dakota couldn't have told you, because he doesn't know."

"He...he doesn't know?" Cavendish was completely taken aback by this. How would he not know that Savannah was his sister?

"No, he doesn't." Savannah glared meaningfully at him. "And he's not going to." Her tone was a very clear warning to Cavendish that he wasn't to tell Dakota either. He normally wouldn't agree to keep such a thing secret, but he knew that Dakota probably wouldn't take the news all that well. Even though he tried to act otherwise, Dakota was rather sensitive. Cavendish didn't know for sure, but he was fairly certain that Dakota would put a lot of meaning into being related to somebody. Dakota would probably be very upset if he learned that Savannah, who had made it perfectly clear that she barely tolerated either of them, was actually his sister.

"I won't tell him." Cavendish said reluctantly, though he didn't believe that it was entirely fair that Dakota wasn't aware of this...development. This whole thing just made things a million times more complicated than they probably should be. "But how can you dislike somebody and yet still care about them?" Because that part just did not make sense to Cavendish at all.

Savannah looked annoyed at his question. "The only reason I _care,"_ And, once again, it sounded like it pained her to say it. "Is because we happen to be related. There's nothing more to it than that."

"Yes, I gathered that much." Cavendish said impatiently. "But if you _care,_ for him, then how can you still dislike him?" _That_ was what didn't make sense to him.

Savannah raised an eyebrow at him. "Have you _met_ Dakota?" She asked. "He's lazy. He doesn't respect authority. He's ignorant and doesn't care whether or not he understands how things should work. He doesn't take anything seriously and he doesn't care about anything except for his stomach. He's like a child, and children have no place working with time travel.

Cavendish frowned when he realized that Savannah brought up a good point. Dakota was all of those things, and it got frustrating sometimes...but the more Cavendish thought about it, the more he realized that some of those descriptions really didn't suit Dakota at all. In fact, just the day before Cavendish had seen multiple examples of just how professional Dakota could be when the situation truly called for it.

Cavendish very vividly remembered the exact moment when the two of them had realized that the future was not in a good state. The minute that they had seen that the future was not the way that it should be and there were sentient pistachios roaming around, Dakota had _immediately_ started taking things more seriously. It was a subtle change, but Dakota had really stepped up and taken charge, and Cavendish was glad that he had as he had been too worried and confused about just _what_ had happened and _why_ to properly concentrate on just fixing it.

That was just the way that Dakota was. There were a lot of things that he didn't know or understand. Cavendish wanted to understand the whys and hows of _everything_ , and that sometimes got in the way of getting a job done. Dakota on the other hand was perfectly content with not knowing exactly why something happened. If he knew why, fine, but if he didn't, that was fine too, he wouldn't let it get in his way.

Dakota was perfectly fine with not understanding exactly how time travel worked. Even if there was a paradox, like that infuriating moment with the peace that Cavendish _still_ didn't understand. Dakota probably didn't understand it any better than he did, but he was okay with it.

And then there was Murphy's law. Cavendish didn't understand how it worked. He was fairly certain that _Milo_ didn't understand how it worked either. Dakota didn't understand it, and yet he had still utilized the jinx to work to their advantage. Cavendish would have been much too focused on knowing the precise _whys_ to be able to do something like that.

And as for Dakota not caring about anything, well, Cavendish knew that that wasn't true. Dakota may not seem to care very much about their assignments, but Cavendish could tell that he cared about the wellbeing of others. He could tell by how fond Dakota was of animals. He could _especially_ tell through how protective of Milo Dakota had been. The boy wasn't even supposed to be with them, and Milo certainly seemed more than capable of taking care of himself. Still, Dakota had done what he could to keep the boy safe, because he cared.

And as for what Savannah said about Dakota being childish, well, she may be completely right there. Dakota was immature, was easily amused and distracted, and he wasn't exactly the most responsible person in the world, so, yes, in some ways he was a lot like a child. But after what Cavendish had seen the day before, where a handful of children had helped them to save the future, he was willing to admit that maybe children weren't given as much credit as they deserved. They could be far more capable than anybody believed.

Dakota may have some infuriating and highly unprofessional traits, but they were what made him _him_. It had taken Cavendish some time to get used to Dakota's way of being, but now that he had properly gotten to know him he couldn't imagine there being anybody else he would prefer as a partner. And Cavendish wasn't just going to sit by and listen to somebody else insult him like that.

"Now, see here, Savannah." Cavendish said in a much bolder tone than he would normally use towards her. She was of a higher ranking than him, after all. "What you said may be true, but Dakota is _much_ more than you or anybody else gives him credit for."

Savannah raised an eyebrow at him. "Really?"

"I'm not denying that he can be a bit irresponsible at times." Cavendish didn't think that anybody who had met Dakota could deny that. "But he is also intelligent, loyal, and the kindest agent I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. If you don't like him, well, then, it's your loss. But I'm not just going to let you talk about him that way."

Savannah was stunned into silence for a moment. There was an odd look in her eyes that Cavendish couldn't identify. In the silence he began to regret his outburst and was just about to apologize for it when Savannah smiled slightly. Not smirked, _smiled._ Granted, it was a small one, barely even there, but it was genuine nonetheless.

"Huh." Savannah stood up and picked up her bag from off the table. "You know, Cavendish, Dakota's had a lot of partners before you, including me." Actually, Cavendish _hadn't_ known that. "None of us lasted very long, and I was beginning to think that there wasn't anybody who could handle having him as a partner. I guess you've proven me wrong."

"...I have?" Cavendish was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that apparently a number of agents had given up on Dakota simply because his attitude and behavior was a little unorthodox.

"Yes, you have." And there was that small smile again. "Because you can give Dakota something that nobody else, not even me, can."

"And what, exactly, is that?" Cavendish asked, because now he was curious. Just what made him so special?

"Respect." Savannah said, and with that she grabbed her drink and went on her way, leaving Cavendish to his thoughts, and boy did he have a lot of them. Most of them were centered around him wondering just how so many agents could apparently find Dakota so completely intolerable. A good number of Cavendish's thoughts though were him wondering if he truly respected his partner. He hadn't ever thought about it before, but now that he was, he realized that he truly did.

How interesting. Was it possible to respect somebody without truly noticing it? And why did Savannah seem pleased that he apparently respected Dakota when she herself didn't even though they were half siblings?

Cavendish figured that he was overthinking things a little bit. Dakota always said that he had a tendency to do that. Cavendish wasn't entirely sure how to keep himself from overthinking other than think about something else. After taking a moment to try to think of _anything_ that wasn't Dakota related, Cavendish suddenly remembered that he had stopped reading right in the middle of a chapter. Now that he had remembered it, Cavendish realized just how much it irked him that he had done that, and now he felt the need to go back to their apartment and continue reading his book...and Savannah had already left with the car.

Joy.

Cavendish sighed and gathered up the three chocolate biscuits that he had ordered for Dakota. One of them had a little bit picked out of it, because Cavendish had wanted to see exactly why his partner found them so appealing. Even now he didn't understand it. Cavendish found the biscuits much too sweet, and he was more than happy to save them for Dakota.

With the three biscuits wrapped up in a napkin Cavendish put them in his pocket, adjusted his hat again, and began the walk home. He was just grateful that it was a nice day and Savannah hadn't taken him somewhere all the way on the other side of town. Still, Cavendish walked briskly, because he really would rather be back before Dakota was so he could have at least a little more peace and quiet.

"Hey, Cavendish!" The older man sighed and cursed his luck. He turned to see Dakota running towards him.

"Hello, Dakota." Cavendish greeted him.

"Hey." Dakota slowed to a walk as he caught up with him. Even after that little run Dakota was already breathing quite heavily. He really needed to exercise more. Dakota took another moment to catch his breath before continuing. "I didn't think you would come out today. I thought you would have spent the whole day reading a book or something."

Cavendish felt a small blush come over his cheeks. He hated it when Dakota unintentionally called him out like that. "Yes, well, that _had_ been the plan." Cavendish said with a little cough. "But then Savannah came by and-"

"Savnnah?" Dakota's eye's brightened. "Hey, I saw her this morning. She was acting kinda weird."

"Strange. She said the same thing about you." Cavendish recalled. "I told her about yesterday."

"Wait. You did?" Dakota frowned slightly in confusion and disbelief. "And she believed you?" Cavendish nodded. Dakota scoffed slightly. "I bet if _I_ had been the one to tell her, she would have laughed me right out of existence."

Cavendish chuckled slightly. "Yes, that's probably true."

Dakota sighed in a disappointed way. "Well, that's life, I guess." He looked at Cavendish with a slight smirk that was just his typical expression. "So, where did you guys go?"

"To that café you're so fond of." Cavendish reached into his pocket and handed the napkin of chocolate biscuits to Dakota. "I kept these for you."

"Sweet." Dakota opened the napkin and popped one of the biscuits into his mouth. He barely chewed it at all before swallowing it practically whole. "So, what else did you and Savannah talk about?"

Cavendish was quiet for a moment as he tried to figure out exactly how to answer that. "...Oh, nothing much." He finally said in an unconvincing tone. Dakota looked at him in a strange way that showed that he didn't entirely believe him, but the younger man just shrugged and took a bite out of the second biscuit.

"Wha'ever." Dakota said with his mouth still full. "She didn't give you that hard of a time, did she? I know she can be intense sometimes."

"No, she was...fine." Cavendish said, because Savannah had been at least civil towards him during their chat. Or, at least, as civil as he had ever seen her before, which is to say, not at all. "How was your day? Did you enjoy the zoo?"

"Oh, it was awesome." Dakota grinned and he excitedly started going on and on about the expanded monkey exhibit, and how there were some new sea lion pups. Cavendish wasn't nearly as interested in animals as Dakota was, but it was enjoyable to hear him sound so passionate about something.

As Dakota started talking about how the lions had actually been walking around and how amazing and apparently rare it had been to see, Cavendish realized that he really had never met anybody else like Dakota. He was a strange man indeed, and Cavendish wouldn't have him any other way.

* * *

 **A/N: I had started writing this awhile ago, and then just randomly decided to finish it. It was as I was in the middle of writing the ending that I decided to just randomly look up when there will be more Milo Murphy's Law episodes, so imagine my shock and excitement when I saw that there will be more later this month. It's a shame that I have to wait a few more weeks, but at least it's not like when** _ **Milo's Missing**_ **came out. I swear, me and my family found out that the episode would be airing by accident the day before it came on. It was absolutely incredibly. But at least this way I get to get properly hyped up.**

 **(seriously though, I can't wait to see** _ **The Island of Lost Dakota's**_ **. I'm already counting down the days.)**


End file.
